OTTAWA - More than 15 months before hitting the field, Ottawa's CFL team has two more football minds in place, one of them with a strong Ottawa connection.

GM Marcel Desjardins has hired American Jeremy Snyder, who has NFL experience, as a pro/college scout, and former CFL all-star offensive lineman Miles Gorrell, as a scouting consultant, to help push the team forward.

Snyder worked for the Montreal Alouettes, preparing strategic advance scouting reports on opposing teams and assessing talent on U.S. college and NFL rosters, the past three seasons. Prior to that, he spent four seasons with the Chicago Bears as a football operations assistant and also worked for the Philadelphia Eagles as a scout.

"Right now, his primary goal is to bring us up to speed," said Desjardins. "As time goes by, his focus will shift to U.S. players -- NCAA and NFL.